Art For Art's Sake: Friday's Art Mart Playlist!

In honor of tomorrow's Art Mart at Superior St., we at The Shit thought it would be fitting to put together a brief playlist of those tunes that highlight the soul of an artist or, in the case of The Kinks, "art lover".

Tomorrow's event will feature more than a dozen talented artists who breathe new life into their chosen mediums (and larges, har har) so we at Superior St. hope that you will make a point to stop by Superior St. tomorrow (Saturday) between 10am and 6pm for a day of art, music, adult beverages, and, in keeping with the approaching holiday (Cinco De Mayo) TACOS!

On their 2011 album, Arabia Mountain, Atlanta's Black Lips turn a trip to the Louvre into a wicked tale of alienation and rediscovery, added, of course, by the intake of psychedelics.
Jared Swilley's vocals capture the frenetic madness of finding yourself in a Dali painting full of dripping clocks and swans with elephant reflections.

The Knack - Art War

Typecast as a two-hit pop band after the out-of-the-box success of "My Sharona" and "Good Girls Don't", the Knack were out to make an album that captured their love of art, jazz, The Doors, and refined pop songcraft. By jettisoning pop producer Mike Chapman in favor of Jack Douglas (John Lennon, Cheap Trick, Aerosmith), the band made a concerted attempt to distance themselves from the "early Beatles" phase of their first two records.

Those who wrote the band off as a disposable pop act would have been forced to reconsider upon hearing monster tracks like "Africa" and "Art War", but Capitol Records seemingly forgot to promote the album beyond a single billboard on the Sunset strip. On the surface, "Art War" may not have sounded out of place on either of their first two albums, but dig a little deeper and you'll find a deceptive complexity to the proceedings and recognize the depth of singer Doug Fieger's lyrical depth. "Bourgeois! What's the deal?", indeed!

Modern Lovers - Pablo Picasso

"Pablo Picasso was never called an asshole," sing-speaks Jonathan Richman on this magnificent 1972 demo that would appear four years later on The Modern Lovers' debut effort for Beserkley (also home to Greg Kihn Band). The song, produced by John Cale, bristles with a sly Velvet Underground vibe with Richman doing his best to invoke Lou Reed, but coming up with something entirely his own.
Burning Sensations, featuring former Motels guitarist Tim McGovern, would later cover the tune quite successfully a decade later.

The Kinks - At Lover

"Jogging in the park is my excuse to look at all the pretty girls" declares the character in Ray Davies' 1981 gem "Art Lover". Davies, of course, is legendary for getting inside the heads of characters as wide-ranging as Lola and the dedicated follower of fashion whose clothes are always loud but never square.
"I'm not a flasher in a rain coat/I'm not a dirty old man/I'm not gonna snatch you from your mother/I'm an art lover...Come to Daddy." While Davies' character is harmless - a lover of the art of blossoming womanhood - The lyrics are open to interpretation and one can't help wonder what scrutiny such a song would receive if released today.

David Bowie - Andy Warhol

Enamored by the NYC art scene, Bowie would befriend Warhol and record this song in tribute to the artist in 1971. Prior to appearing on the 1972 album, Hunky Dory, Bowie would play the finished song for Warhol prior to its release. According to Bowie, Warhol took slight offense to the song upon feeling that the lyrics made light of his appearance and techniques.

If not for the fact that the song itself happened to appear on the same album as the smash hit "Changes", one can't help think "Andy Warhol" would have received more attention. Of course, years later, Heart would co-opt Mick Ronson's opening guitar riff for their own "Crazy On You".